EPA to drill wells to assess chemical threat at dry-cleaners site

The Memphis Sand aquifer provides some of the best drinking water in North America, but what is it?
Jason Viera/The Commercial Appeal

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A crew conducts soil boring at the former site of Custom Cleaners, which has been added to the national priority list for cleanup under the federal Superfund program for hazardous waste sites.(Photo: Tom Charlier / The Commercial Appeal)Buy Photo

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to drill a series of wells this month to determine if a toxic solvent found in ground water beneath a former Memphis dry-cleaning business is seeping toward a pumping station supplying some of the city's drinking water, officials said Thursday.

The five wells — two of them at a neighboring McDonald's restaurant — will help EPA map the plume of tetrachloroethylene emanating from the former Custom Cleaners site at 3517 Southern. They also will determine whether the chemical is flowing toward the Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division's Sheahan Pumping Station, located less a mile east of the dry-cleaning site.

Located adjacent to the University of Memphis, the former Custom Cleaners property on Thursday was officially added to the National Priority List of hazardous waste sites awaiting cleanup under the federal Superfund program. EPA expects to complete its investigation of the contamination by the end of this year before selecting the best feasible cleanup option in 2018.

The Superfund listing reflects the potential hazards at the site posed by tetrachloroethylene, a dry-cleaning solvent also known as perchloroethylene, or simply "perc," that's linked to neurological, liver and kidney problems and is believed to cause cancer.

Samples from an initial test well on the property showed ground water contained perc at levels 28 times higher than the federal drinking-water standard. EPA officials say the contaminants could migrate into the Memphis Sand aquifer, the source of public drinking water, because the site sits over what appears to be a window, or opening, in a protective layer of clay covering the aquifer in most places.

"We think there is a window," said Ken Mallary, a remedial project manager for EPA. "If there is a window, we want to determine any ground-water impacts."

David Traylor, project manager with Versar Inc., a consulting contractor to EPA, said the additional wells will be sunk about 150 feet deep. They will yield samples showing the concentrations of the perc and the direction it is flowing.

"We think it's going toward the east, but we don't know," Traylor said Thursday as he and other officials spoke with citizens at an event near the site.

Concerned about the possible movement of the chemical toward Sheahan, EPA asked MLGW to provide analyses of water drawn from the western-most wells serving the pumping station. The analyses showed no sign of perc.

Perc contamination has been a common problem at longtime dry-cleaning sites. At 3517 Southern, a laundry or dry cleaning businesses operated at least as far back as 1950, when it was the site of Madison Appliance & Home Laundry, until the mid-1990s, according to state and federal officials.

The most heavily contaminated soil was removed during an initial EPA project last year, when dirt was excavated to depths of up to 17 feet.

While the contamination probe continues, EPA also is investigating potentially responsible parties -- typically property owners or business operators -- who could be found liable for some or all of the cleanup costs.

The property remains owned by Minor D. and Elizabeth Madison, although it has had a variety of operators over the years.

In 1985, Custom Cleaners Inc. filed incorporation papers with the Tennessee Secretary of State's office. The registered agent was Mark Lovell, the fair-operator who earlier this year resigned his newly won seat in the State House of Representatives amid allegations of sexual improprieties.